Hi all, 

In today’s bulletin: Royal Caribbean cruise passengers are waiting to disembark after the vessel returns to Singapore; Japan plans to build ships for Aegis missile defence system; a controversy over the Covid-19 dead in Sri Lanka; Google, Facebook win key concession in the new Australian regulation requiring they pay for news content; Kim Jong Un’s sister berates S. Korea’s foreign minister for doubting ‘zero Covid-19’ claim; China and Nepal agree on new higher Everest height, and more.

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Royal Caribbean cruise passengers waiting to disembark after ship returns to Singapore with Covid-19 case

An effort to revive a tourism opportunity received a temporary setback with a Covid-19 case being  detected on board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship forcing it to cut short its journey and return to Singapore. 

The victim was an 83-year-old man who had tested negative for the infection before joining others on the ship. But he tested positive after he reported to an on-board medical centre with diarrhoea and underwent a mandatory polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test as part of on-board protocols.

The vessel, with 1,600 guests and 1,148 crew members on board arrived in Singapore at 8am on Wednesday. The ship, part of a cruise to nowhere scheme, isolated all guests and crew who had close contact with the guest and all of them tested negative for the coronavirus.

As part of existing infection control protocols, all other passengers and crew on board were kept on the ship till contact tracing could be completed. 

Also read: 

Cruise to nowhere: On board Quantum of the Seas with a Covid-19 case

Japan to build ships for controversial Aegis missile defence system

Japan’s Defence Minister said today Tokyo will build two ships equipped with Aegis missile interceptors to strengthen the country’s defence systems, moving away from an earlier effort to have a land-based system. The proposal will be brought before the Cabinet next week.

Explaining the decision, the Prime Minister’s top spokesman Katsunobu Kato said the proposal “is aimed at establishing a system of defending the whole of Japan continuously with a ballistic missile defence system”.

Adoption of the system is seen as a level of protection against the growing missile threats from China and North Korea – the latter has test-fired rockets over Japanese territory previously.

The project, however, has attracted controversy partly because of the costs involved. Locals have also voiced concern about the risks posed by a missile defence system in their backyard.

Sri Lanka Muslims leave bodies of relatives unclaimed in protest of cremation rule for Covid-19 deaths

In a controversy stoking tensions between two communities in Sri Lanka, Muslim families are refusing to collect the bodies of their relatives who died of Covid-19, to protest the government’s insistence on cremations.

A government health officer in the capital city of Colombo told ST’s India Correspondent Rohini Mohan that in the past 10 days, 19 bodies have been left unclaimed in the Colombo morgue as Muslim families demand the right to bury them as per Islamic rites.

The World Health Organisation’s March guidelines say victims of coronavirus “can be buried or cremated”. But the Sri Lankan government’s chief epidemiologist Dr Sugath Samaraweera told the media that an expert committee warned them about the island’s high water table, and that burials could contaminate ground water.

Google, Facebook win key concession in law to pay for news in Australia

Google and Facebook Inc won a key concession in Australia as the government unveiled details of a world-first law to force the digital giants to pay to display news articles, Bloomberg reports.

The legislation was introduced to Australia’s Parliament today. It requires that the two Internet giants compensate publishers for the value their stories generate for the platforms. 

However, in a modification to an earlier draft, it now recognises the monetary value the platforms provide to news businesses by directing readers to their websites. The details will be debated by lawmakers.

N. Korea berates S. Korea’s top diplomat for doubting its ‘zero Covid-19 cases’ claim

North Korea lashed out at South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha for casting doubt over its claim that there were no coronavirus outbreaks in the country, while she was addressing a forum in Bahrain.

Pyongyang also warned of consequences for her “impudent” comment. Ms Kim Yo Jong, who is the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, also issued a statement saying the “reckless remarks” would further chill “frozen relations”.

In other news…

Everest ‘grows’ 86cm as China, Nepal agree on new height: The highest point on Earth got a bit higher as China and Nepal finally agreed on a precise elevation for Mount Everest after decades of debate. The agreed height unveiled at a joint news conference in Kathmandu of 8,848.86m is 86cm higher than the measurement previously recognised by Nepal, and more than 4m above China’s official figure.

Indonesians go to the polls in regional elections: More than 100 million Indonesians cast their ballots for regional leaders across the country on Wednesday (Dec 9), after a three-month delay due to the coronavirus pandemic. Together, they will elect nine governors, 224 regents, and 37 mayors – collectively known as regional heads, reports Regional Correspondent Arlina Arshad.

Indonesian police say controversial cleric’s bodyguards carried guns: More information has surfaced in the fatal shootout that took place outside Jakarta in the early hours of Monday. Police officials have disclosed that they’ve found evidence that the bodyguards of Islamic Defenders’ Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab illegally possessed firearms and that this was used against the officers tailing their cars in that incident.

Thanks for reading The Straits Times and this newsletter. We will be back with you tomorrow.     

Shefali 

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